‘I’m hungry for us to get better’: Rangers boss Graeme Murty says he wants outstanding to be the new normal

RANGERS manager Graeme Murty is determined to drive up standards so that “outstanding is the norm”.

Murty watched with satisfaction as his side racked up five goals in 22 minutes against Ayr on Sunday to secure a place in the William Hill Scottish Cup quarter-finals.

But the Ibrox boss is more excited by their potential for improvement.

Speaking ahead of Sunday’s trip to Hamilton, Murty said: “The thrilling part of it isn’t that we win games or that we scored goals or had flashes of good stuff, the thrilling part for me is that we can get better.

“We can get cleaner, we can get sharper, we can have a better understanding, we can be more ruthless, we can be more clinical. And I’m saying that as a manager who is quite pleased with the steps that we’ve made.

“But I’m hungry for us to get better and elevate our level on a daily basis, so that our norms are outstanding.

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“And I believe we have the players in the squad who are capable of doing that, it’s just challenging them every day to keep them fresh and hungry and for them to challenge one another to make sure that training is at the right level every day.

“We are getting there, we are moving in the right direction, but we are not where we will be by the end of the season. We will be better than we are now.”

Rangers sit third in the Ladbrokes Premiership but Murty has promised fans improvement in the coming months and he feels there is the mentality in his squad to ensure that.

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“There’s ruthlessness in the squad but we have to make sure it’s in everyone,” he said. “We want underlying themes and values that are through every single person in the squad. If they don’t have it or can’t develop it or are unwilling to develop it, then they won’t play for the football club.

“But if they do have it and they are driving towards what we want them to be, then they will find endless time from myself and the staff to help them get to where we believe they need to be to push us forward.”

Rangers will need to improve on their previous performance against Martin Canning’s Hamilton, when they suffered a 2-0 defeat after missing a string of chances.

“We know what Martin will set his team up to do, we know they have a threat,” Murty said.

“They came to Ibrox and turned us over 2-0. From us dominating the ball and dominating the game, they created clear chances to score against us. So it’s up to us to make sure we deny them those opportunities because if we don’t we will be punished.”